Entranced
by Dr.Willowbrook
Summary: Lana is hell bent on killing her boyfriend Clark Kent, but why? Set in Season 5 after Hidden.
1. Prologue

**Entranced **

Prologue  


Kryptonite hurts.

A lot.

Pete and Chloe always tell me that I'm a total wuss when it comes to pain, but they have no idea what this feels like. I bet they wouldn't fare too well either if they were Kryptonians sitting next to a big chunk of the nasty green stuff.

Imagine a million needles dipped in battery acid. Attach them to a live electric generator. Then stick them all over your skin and your insides all at once. And get run over by a tank while you're at it. That should approximate what Kryptonite feels like. So excuse me while I writhe on the floor like a wuss.

Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. After the second meteor shower, my few weeks of living as a normal human taught me a lot about physical pain. But it definitely didn't prepare me for the pain of staring a loved one in the face right before they're about to kill you.

I struggle back to my feet as she steps toward me, glowing green rock in hand. I look her in the eyes, but her face remains impassive. I don't see a trace of the woman I know. The woman I love.

"Clark, you're dangerous. You have to be stopped."

I try to protest, but my neurons are too scrambled by the Kryptonite. So I just stand there wheezing like an idiot.

I hate it when that happens.

Before I know it, her heel connects with my stomach. I go sprawling on the floor, sucking for air like a fish out of water.

Man, that girl has a nasty spin kick. No doubt courtesy of all that martial arts training she did in sophomore year. Damned Lex. I'm normally all for girl power and everything, but I draw the line at getting my butt kicked by my own girlfriend. Maybe we should go to couples therapy or something. Anything's better than this.

I hear the Kryptonite fall to the floor right next to me. I can feel its proximity because the pain in my body just doubled, if such a thing is possible. I hear the scraping of metal against the concrete and my eyes follow the noise. Just great. Now she's got a metal pipe.

She stands over me and raises the pipe above her head. I desperately try to squirm away, but it's no use. The Kryptonite's too close. Although I feel like puking, I manage to look her in her hazel eyes one last time and croak out her name.

"Lana…"

For a moment I see her hesitate, but as soon as I see the flicker of hope, it's gone.

"I'm sorry Clark, but I can't let you leave here alive."

Her gaze never wavers as she starts to swing the pipe downwards toward my head.

This is _so_ not how I envisioned our relationship turning out.

to be continued...

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	2. Chapter 1: Windmills

**Entranced **

Chapter 1: Windmills  


**A few days earlier...**

I'm sitting in the passenger seat of Lana's SUV while she drives. I want to take a look to figure out where we're heading, but there's a small problem. I'm blindfolded. How do I let myself get into these kinds of situations? I need to learn to stop being such a sucker for pretty girls who make pouty faces. Lana does it. Chloe does it. Gosh, even Lois resorts to it when she really wants something. And I fall for it every time. Chloe says it's the only defense girls have against the "Kent Charm Smile"… whatever that is.

My hands are starting to fidget. They get like that when I'm nervous or don't know what's going on. Obviously, Lana sees them. I can hear her attempting to hold back a giggle.

"It's a surprise," she says with a hint of laughter, "trust me."

The jury's still out on how I feel about surprises. I guess it depends on whether it's a good surprise or a bad surprise. But I have a feeling that I'm going to like this one. Especially since it involves Lana Lang blindfolding me and taking me hostage to some unknown destination. Of course, I'm a willing hostage. Being an unwilling hostage would definitely suck. But I'm rarely unwilling when it comes to Lana. At least not until recently.

Ever since Jor-El brought me back from the brink, I've been kind of… apprehensive around Lana. Not that I don't want to. It's just that I couldn't stand it if she ever got hurt. Heat vision and super strength are normally great assets… unless you're rounding second base with the girl of your dreams. Then you have to worry about turning her into a smoldering pancake. Ugh, bad visual. Forget I said anything.

Plus there's the whole Jor-El thing. Him exchanging my life for one of my loved ones' in the future. I won't even get into that. I'm supposed to be having fun with Lana today, remember?

Even though I'm blindfolded, I turn my head to face her. Time to see if this "Kent Charm Smile" works through blindfolds. I give her the best grin I can muster, but I feel really stupid because the bottom of the red blindfold drapes over the top of my cheeks. I'm thinking that I probably look like one of those weird upside-down-faced thumb puppets, but hey, at least I'm giving it a shot.

To make sure she's looking at me, I ask her, "Can't I even get a clue as to where we're going?"

I can't resist the temptation to see her reaction, so I use my x-ray vision to see right through the blindfold. I know, it kind of defeats the purpose of being blindfolded, but I'm not looking at the road in front of us. I'm looking at her instead, so the destination's still a surprise. Besides, I have a legit excuse. I hear that my girl's quite a looker. 

She sneaks a quick glance my way and looks back at the road, ever the safe driver. I hear her heart rate and breathing speed up slightly as the curve of her mouth turns up into a smile. Wow, maybe there really is something to what Chloe said about the smile after all.

"What are you trying to do, huh?" she says playfully.

Her smile grows even bigger. I never realized how brilliant her eyes could look until now. The late afternoon sun hits her hazel eyes in such a way that they look almost golden-green. Absolutely beautiful. I think my smile just got a little bigger, too. 

She starts laughing and says, "You can't 'Kent Charm Smile' your way out of this one, buster!"

"What, you call it that too? You and Chloe are in cahoots?"

"Of course," she responds matter-of-factly, "plus don't forget about Lois."

"That does it," I humph in mock outrage, "the next time one of you girls does the 'pouty-face,' you're getting no sympathy from me."

She turns towards me and even though I'm wearing a blindfold, she does the 'pouty-face' again. It must be some kind of reflex or something.

"Oh Clarkie," she whines, knowing full well how much I detest that particular nickname.

"Oh God, anything but that," I respond in true disgust, covering my ears.

"It's bad enough when Lois does it," I continue.

Lana bursts out laughing, obviously amused that she could horrify me so easily. It hardly ever occurred to me how seldom I've heard Lana laugh these past couple of years. It makes me happy to think that I'm the one that makes her laugh now.

Her laughter dies down as she starts to concentrate on the road and flips her turn signal. I realize we're probably getting close, so I cut my x-ray vision and resume playing the role of willing hostage.

"How about my clue?" I ask again, jokingly placing a hand on her leg.

She responds with a fake gasp of outrage and playfully slaps my hand away.

"Patience, grasshopper," she teases, "we're almost there."

A few moments later, she stops the SUV and kills the engine. I hear her get out. She quickly makes her way to my door and helps me out, taking my hand tightly in hers. Lana leads me a few steps from the SUV and undoes my blindfold. As the blindfold falls away, all I can see in front of me is the windmill in the middle of Chandler's field.

"We're here!" she exclaims.

I scan the area but I don't see anything out of the ordinary. I look back to her and smile.

"So what do you have planned?"

She fixes me an alluring look. I swear it could stop any man dead in his tracks.

"Well, you're just gonna have to follow me and see, won't you?"

As soon as she finishes taunting me, Lana saunters over to the windmill, clearly trying to entice me. Her hips sway back and forth, her loose raven hair being tossed up by the wind. I don't know why, but for some reason the image of her walking away from me so playful and carefree strikes a chord in me. Like one of those images you never forget, burned into your memory forever. Maybe that image of her reminds me of the life I could have had. No secrets. No lies. No destiny. Just us, being carefree and doing what most other people our age normally do. Have fun. Be in love. You know, the good stuff.

I shake myself out of my thoughts and quickly follow her. I have to admit, after all this secrecy, I'm getting quite curious. To my surprise, she starts deftly making her way up the ladder without any fear or hesitation. This isn't the first time I've been up the windmill with Lana. But every time before today, I could tell from her heartbeat that she was really scared to go up there.

That isn't the case today.

"I thought you were afraid of going up the windmill?" I call out.

She looks down from above me, an amused smile on her face.

"I got over it," she yells back down nonchalantly.

Then under her breath, so quiet that I wouldn't have heard it without my super hearing she jokingly mutters to herself, "Believe me, I definitely learned to get over it."

I smile to myself as I start climbing. Even after knowing her all these years, she still finds ways to surprise me.

Once I get to the top platform of the windmill, I see exactly what she's planning. Laid out before us is an entire picnic spread. From where we're sitting, we'll have a perfect view of the sunset. I'm honestly surprised. I definitely didn't expect this. 

I can tell she's pleased by the way she's reacting to my expression.

"Surprised?" she asks, almost tentatively.

"Wow… Lana, this is amazing," is all I can lamely manage, but it seems to do the trick from the way she's smiling at me.

"We'll have a great view of our sunset," she adds.

"Yeah, our sunset," I say back to her before swooping her up for a kiss. 

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We sit atop the windmill, having finished our meal. She snuggles herself into my chest, right under my chin. I can smell her hair. Hints of strawberries and vanilla. I don't think I can ever smell either fragrance again without thinking of her. The sun slowly droops down. The last rays of the sun peek over the horizon, turning the sky into various shades of crimson and lavender.

"Beautiful," she whispers, right before the blue of night takes over.

I kiss her gently on her temple. My little way of telling her that she's beautiful too. She shifts her body to look at me.

"Did you have fun?" she asks.

"It was perfect," I respond contentedly.

"I'm glad."

A question suddenly pops in my head. I know I shouldn't ask, but my curiosity often gets the better of me. Today being no exception.

"Lana, was there a special occasion or something I forgot? You went through all this trouble…"

"What," she interjects with a grin, as if she knew this question was coming, "a girl can't take her boyfriend out just because she feels like it?" 

Luckily she's still smiling and doesn't seem offended by my lunkhead question.

"Of course you can," I answered. 

Lana sits up to face me and takes my face in both of her hands. She looks me squarely in the eyes. I can tell that she's worked up by the way her pupils are shimmering and how fast her heart's beating.

"Clark, I almost lost you a couple of weeks ago. Every day I have with you is a reason to celebrate." 

She's talking about the day I died. Lana just looks at me. Seeing me. But at the same time, her eyes tell me everything. They tell me just how devastated she was when I passed away. I just sit there speechless. I know that Lana loves me. But until now, I didn't' realize just how much she needs me. She wraps her arms around my shoulders so that we're face to face. Then she whispers into my ear, full of emotion, her voice almost quavering.

"Don't ever scare me like that again. I love you too much."

I decide that she needs to know what I feel for her too.

"Lana, I love you too. There's nowhere else I'd rather be than here with you."

She squeezes me tight, holding me as if I'm going to fly away. I can feel her body pressed up tight against mine. Her proximity makes my heart feel like it's going to jump out of my chest. She's breathing so hard it's almost like she's sobbing. Before I know it, her lips are crashing down on mine. There's so much desperate passion in her kisses, I find it impossible not to reciprocate.

In a few moments I'm lying flat on my back and she's on top of me, unbuttoning my shirt. We're a tangle of limbs, raining kisses on each other, completely lost in our own world. Her hands head for my pants and she starts to unbutton them. We're approaching the point of no return. My mind tells me to stop, but my body has other ideas. A battle rages inside me. Should I give in? Could I hurt her? Is it right to do this when she doesn't know who I really am? She presses on, and I can tell from the glazed look in her eyes that she has no intention of stopping. Which means it's up to me to regain control. But despite all my powers, I don't think I have the strength to put a stop to it.

Then all of a sudden my cell phone starts ringing in my pants pocket, catching Lana by surprise. It's just the break I need to get a hold of myself. Going any further just wouldn't be right. I take advantage of the opportunity to put some physical distance between us, lest I start jumping her all over again. After sitting back up, I look into Lana's eyes, and they fill with disappointment. I wish I could give her what she wants, but I just can't. It breaks my heart to see it, but it's the only way.

The phone stops ringing and we just sit there looking at each other. I see the hurt and confusion in her eyes, and it's eating me up inside. I think I should say something but I don't. Instead, the silence between us speaks volumes. In fact, it's deafening. I wish I could hide under a rock right about now. Then my phone starts ringing again, giving me the refuge I desperately need. This time I pick up the call. Lana's eyes go from hurt to frigid in about 1.5 seconds. Even though I'm impervious to the cold, I swear the temperature's dropped by at least 20 degrees. 

I try my best to ignore my predicament as I answer my phone.

"Hello?"

"Clark, thank god!"

It's Chloe, and she sounds like she's two notches removed from being hysterical. I don't recognize the number she's calling from. Now I'm worried. Hopefully she hasn't gotten herself into a situation that requires me to zip over to Metropolis right this instant. Considering that Lana's sitting right next to me furious, that wouldn't be a good scenario at all.

"Chloe," I ask into the phone, "is there something wrong?"

Lana slowly realizes that Chloe's on the other line and might be in trouble. I can tell because I see her anger fading as her face washes over with concern.

"Clark," Chloe answers, "I've been arrested."

To be continued...

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Likes? Dislikes? Questions? Comments? Feedback is greatly appreciated!


	3. Chapter 2: Lover's Quarrel

**Entranced **

Chapter 2: Lover's Quarrel

Being trapped in a car with an angry girlfriend is never a good idea. Especially when she's the one driving. Lana insisted in speeding us to Metropolis to help Chloe. Now she's driving down the freeway like a bat out of hell, passing cars at an incredible rate of speed. Although I'm the invincible one, I seem to be the only person in the car fearing for my life, both literally and figuratively.

"Lana, maybe we should slow down a bit," I meekly suggest.

"Chloe needs our help," she responds icily.

I know she's still ticked about my cold shoulder and subsequent non-explanation at the windmill. I figure it's time for some damage control.

"Lana, I'm really sorry. I know that I ruined our evening—"

"I'm not in the mood for empty apologies, Clark."

Her hands grip the steering wheel even tighter.

"What do you mean?" I ask, even though I already know what she' getting at.

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

I see her jaw tense and her eyes narrow. She's definitely approaching her boiling point. But for some reason the confrontational tone of her voice makes me ultra-defensive. So instead of doing the sensible thing and diffusing the situation, I decide to say the exact thing that'll set her off. Chloe always told me I had a low social IQ when it came to girls. She's probably right.

"Actually, I don't. Enlighten me."

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I wish I can take them back. Lana actually takes her eyes off the road and shoots a series of dagger-like looks right at me. It's a wonder we don't crash. I'm such an idiot.

But just as her anger rises, it seems to subside a little bit. She takes a deep breath and starts speaking to me in a more measured tone than I expect.

"You know what, Clark? I know you far better than you realize. I knew that when we got back together, even though we promised each other to stop with the secrets and lies, that there'd still be skeletons in your closet."

Whoa, just when I thought I was safe, she manages to change the subject to a topic that's even more uncomfortable. I swear that girl lives to see me squirm.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, doing my best to feign ignorance.

But even I can tell that I'm thoroughly unconvincing.

"I'm not a dumb girl, Clark. I'm smart enough to know that the secrets you've been hiding for years won't all go away overnight."

"If you knew all that," I retort defensively, "then why did you even give me another shot to begin with?"

Lana pauses for a moment. I can hear her heartbeat and breathing calm down. Instead of escalating the situation, she responds with a voice that has more sadness than anger.

"The truth is, I don't really care anymore that you have secrets. I decided to let that go the day I decided to let you back into my life. I made a decision to accept all of you. Even the parts of you that I don't know."

I'm so taken aback, I don't know what to say. After everything I've put her through, she's still willing to accept all of me.

"Clark," she continues, "all of us have skeletons in our closet, and I know that a lot of the time it isn't anyone else's business. I understand that we all need to keep some things to ourselves. That's why I try not to bother you about things you don't want to talk about. But when your secrets start to affect our relationship… when they start to affect _us_, then they _become_ my business. Sometimes you just don't give me a choice."

Lana's comments hit me deep. I've been in such denial, I didn't realize just how much my secret was damaging our relationship. With every day that passes, Chloe's insistence to tell Lana the truth seems to make more and more sense. Considering all the knucklehead moves I've made in the past few hours, I feel like even more of an idiot than I already did.

"I'm sorry I disappoint you Lana."

"It's not that, Clark, don't you get it?" she replies, exasperated. "Ever since the day you miraculously came back to me, you haven't been the same."

"Lana," I lamely explain, "I told you that experience was really difficult for me. It's taking time for me to adjust…"

She cuts me off. She's probably heard this excuse one too many times for her liking.

"I know Clark, but it also feels like there's this burden that's slowly crushing you and eating you up alive. It's like you're living your life as a cripple! Do you know what it feels like to see you suffer like this?"

She's right about how I feel inside. It's frighteningly eerie that she reads me so easily. I can hear the hitch in her voice and tears start to trickle from her eyes. She turns her head back to face the road, but she continues talking.

"I know that you're going through a lot. All I want to do is help you and take some of your pain away, but you keep shutting me out! I feel so helpless, so useless. I'm your girlfriend. I'm supposed to help you through things like this, but I can't do even that. I just feel like I'm letting you down."

She sniffles as tears stream down her face. My heart breaks to see her like this. All this time, she's concerned about my well being. And what do I do to thank her? I undermine her self-esteem and make her question her role in my life. Great job, Clark. Way to treat your fabulous girlfriend.

I brush off some of her tears with the back of my hand, but she keeps her eyes on the road. She means so much to me. I caress the side of her face with my palm. She leans into my touch, but her sobs grow stronger. I do my best to assure her that she means more to me than she could ever imagine.

"Lana, don't ever think that you're not doing enough for me. You're everything I've ever dreamed of. You're the one thing in my life I look forward to the most. It's my fault that this is happening. I'm just not great at letting other people in when I need help with something."

"But you're always there to help everyone else," she adds, faintly smiling through the tears.

She's crying yet she still smiles for me. I'm one lucky man. It's about time I listened to Chloe's advice. I decide to make a promise to her, with every fiber of my being. I give her a gentle kiss on her cheek and I taste the saltiness of her tears. Then I gently whisper to her.

"I'll do better, Lana. I want to let you in. I want you to know me. I just need a little time." 

"Really?" she replies. I can hear the hope in her voice.

"I promise, if it's the last thing I do." 

I'd bet my life on it.

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	4. Chapter 3: Happy Trails

**Entranced **

**Chapter 3: Happy Trails**

Lana and I briskly stride towards the entrance of Metropolis' 5th Precinct, where Chloe's being held overnight. I let out a resigned sigh as we approach the giant doors.

This whole situation's a mess.

But at least Lana doesn't seem to be mad at me anymore. That's the last thing I need right now. However, I can tell by the way she's holding my hand that she's really worried about what all of us are facing.

"Everything will turn out alright," I reassure her as I gently squeeze her hand.

"I hope so Clark," she says with a twinge of anxiety in her voice. "It's just that Chloe's Dad is in California on business while Lois and General Lane are still in Europe searching for Lucy. We're all that she's got right now. On top of it all, I still can't believe they arrested her for burglarizing LuthorCorp! I know Chloe's pretty capable, but I don't think even she could pull that one off."

"I'm thinking the same thing too," I concur, "there's something about this whole situation that's not quite right."

Leave it to Chloe to get arrested while attending a journalism convention in the city. Can't she keep her nose out of trouble for any reasonable amount of time? What was she doing anywhere near LuthorCorp anyway? I told her to stop looking into Lex's suspected shady dealings for her own safety. After what Lex pulled last month with those Summerholt escapees, there's no telling what he'll do to anyone that gets in his way. But I guess none of that matters now.

We both enter the precinct and fill out the necessary paperwork. After a half hour, one of the officers leads us to the cell where Chloe's waiting.

At the sight of us, Chloe bounds up to the bars with a look of relief on her face.

"Am I glad to see you guys!"

"We're just glad we got to you," Lana says as she grabs one of Chloe's hands in a comforting gesture.

"Chloe," I ask, "are you okay?"

"Better now that the both of you are here," she weakly smiles back.

I don't blame Chloe for the lack of her typical chirpiness. I've spent a night in jail myself. Definitely not pleasant. Been there, done that, burned the t-shirt.

"What happened?" Lana asks.

The expression of confusion on Chloe's face forces Lana and I to look at each other with equal confusion.

"To be perfectly honest," Chloe finally explains, "I can't really remember."

"What do you mean you can't remember?" I ask.

"What I mean is that I don't remember anything solid since this morning. Everything's kind of hazy."

Chloe's confession instigates Lana to probe even deeper.

"Are you saying that you lost your memory?"

"Not totally. I remember checking into the convention, but then after that all I can recall are bits and pieces of the day, but the memories seem really hazy and detached, as if I didn't have real control over what I was doing."

"Are you saying you were possessed?" says Lana.

"That wouldn't be the first time we've seen something like that happen." I comment.

"Yeah," Lana adds, "I'm still kind of creeped out by the Isobel and Dawn Stiles incidents."

"Look guys," Chloe chimes in, "I'm really nervous about what I can possibly say to defend myself if don't even know what actually happened. What am I gonna tell my lawyer when he gets here? I did it? I didn't do it? Wait, can I call a lifeline?!"

I do my best not to laugh, but it's no use. Chloe's "snark" , as Pete and I call it, runs loose even when she's behind bars. When I turn to look at Lana, I can see she's barely able to keep from laughing herself. At least I don't feel so bad for laughing now.

"I'm glad someone finds my stint behind bars amusing," Chloe deadpans.

"I'm sorry Chloe," I apologize, "but we'll find out what's really behind this. I promise"

"But where do we start?" asks Lana.

"You know," Chloe suggests, "I think the best place we can start would be with the last thing I clearly remember and then work from there."

"What do you remember about checking into the convention?" I ask.

"The last thing I remember was signing in and getting my name tag from this girl. I remember being kind of annoyed that she was capable of being so perky that early in the morning. She looked like she was around our age, maybe slightly older. I'd be surprised if she was past her early twenties."

"Did she have any distinguishing characteristics?" probed Lana.

"She had brown hair and some kind of Eastern European accent. For some reason I can't forget the color of her eyes. They were green with specs of gold— really unusual. Plus she had a name tag. It said her name was Karina."

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Lana lies stomach-down on her bed in Nell's condo, wearing nothing but a tank top and some old Smallville High gym sweats. Lucky for us, Nell and Dean are out of town for the week, so we have the place all to ourselves. She props her upper body up by her elbows, legs bent at the knees with her feet swaying back and forth in the air.

I swivel on the chair by her work desk across from the bed, observing her. Her face is a mask of total concentration as she stares at the laptop screen in front of her. I can't help but notice how Lana bites her lower lip whenever she focuses on something. Totally adorable. It's one of the many little quirks I've noticed about her over the years.

After a few moments she finally realizes that I've been staring at her all this time instead of diving into my share of research regarding Chloe's amnesia spell.

"What?" she asks with a quizzical look.

"Nothing," I grin back at her.

She gives me playful smile.

"You know, we need to dig up as much info as we can before we start questioning people in person tomorrow morning."

"Yes Ma'am!" I tease.

She lets out a small laugh before turning back to her screen.

I decide to follow suit and get back to pursuing leads on my own laptop that I set up on her desk. I search through the employee information pages of the organization that coordinated the journalism convention, the Kansas Journalism Education Association. But after a few minutes of searching I can't turn up anything. Then I hear Lana sigh out loud in frustration.

"Clark, I've gone through every employee database relating to the journalism convention I can find, and there's still no sign of this Karina person Chloe described."

"Maybe she just volunteered for the day or something." I suggest. "She could be a student."

"In any case," she responds, "I'm so desperate right now that I'm just about ready to start using Google images to search for pictures of the convention. I'm sure that by some bizarre Smallville-inspired stroke of luck that it'll be more helpful than what we're doing now."

"You might be right about that."

Lana huffs again and says, "Chloe sure makes investigative research look a whole lot easier than it actually is."

I start to chuckle a bit at the truth of that statement.

At my amused response she asks, "This is kind of weird, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Chloe's normally the one that figures out what's going on behind the scenes when one of us ends up behind bars. And now we're the ones she's relying on to get her out. It's a total role reversal. Remember when Chloe found out how Seth was using his magnetic power to manipulate me in junior year before he landed me in jail?"

I give her an amused 'I-told-you-so' smile. I remember that little incident about how I warned Lana about magnet-boy. But would she listen? Noooo. To be fair, she was being controlled by Seth's magnetic meteor power. But it was incredibly irritating and worrying nonetheless.

Lana returns my smile with a devious grin of her own.

"Or how about that one time you were put in jail at the start of sophomore year? Chloe was the one that figured out that Miss Atkins was using pheromones to control Lex. Isn't it interesting that Chloe noticed that you seemed to be the only male in Smallville immune to Miss Atkins' super-pheromones?"

Of course, Lana just had to bring up that little incident with the pheromone-wielding black widow biology teacher. I knew I was pressing my luck with that 'I-told-you-so' smile.

"Miss Atkins," I respond, "or more correctly, Mrs. Luthor? Don't remind me. Being arrested in front of my parents completely sucked. And Lex barely got out of it without being totally flambéed."

Oh, what a missed opportunity that was. Maybe if I had let Desiree Atkins roast Lex in his own 100-year-old scotch as she'd intended, I'd have a lot less to worry about right now. If only I had known then what a scheming bastard he'd become. I know I shouldn't be thinking like this, but I'm not feeling much love towards Lex right now. I don't think I'll ever forgive him for letting those meteor-infected escapees from Belle Reeve endanger me, my family and Lana. Coming after me is one thing, but going after my family and friends is another thing entirely. There's no way I'm going to let that slide.

"I have to admit that Lex definitely has a less than stellar history in choosing women," she giggles. "Speaking of Lex, when does he get back from his European business trip?"

Hopefully never. Not that I'd wish him dead… just stranded on a desert island or something. It's nothing he hasn't handled before. But getting back to the point, Lana did ask a question.

"According to his secretary," I answer, "he gets back sometime tomorrow."

"Good," Lana says optimistically, "perhaps we can both convince him to drop the charges against Chloe."

I give Lana a dubious look.

"That doesn't seem likely. In case you haven't noticed, Chloe and I aren't exactly on Lex's buddy list at the moment."

"But it's worth a shot," she counters. "Things don't have to get ugly and totally out of hand. If Lex sees that Chloe didn't get her hands on anything important, then he might as well let it go. I don't think he wants a storm of publicity around whatever it was he was trying to keep secret."

"You've got a point there," I reluctantly acquiesce, "but in the meantime we've got to soldier on without her."

"I know," she sighs, "If Chloe was here she'd probably have figured everything out by now."

"That's probably true," I reassure her, "but don't sell yourself short. Even Chloe runs into dead ends sometimes."

When I look back at her, Lana's lost in thought, as if digesting what I'd just said.

"Lana?"

She snaps out of her reverie and stares at me with earnest eyes. I know that stare. She looks at me like that whenever she wants me to answer something truthfully. Then she looks down at the bed, seemingly embarrassed.

"Clark, this is gonna seem kind of out of the blue, but I was wondering… why did you chose me?"

"What?" She's right. I have absolutely no idea where this is coming from.

She lifts her gaze from the bed but she still can't look me in the eyes. It seems like she suddenly develops a fixation on my now-twiddling thumbs as she clarifies her question.

"Why didn't you choose Chloe over me? I mean, she's brilliant, gorgeous, funny… and you two get along so well. Asides from my own issues and baggage, I don't see anything I have to offer that she doesn't."

Whoa, talk about a live grenade being tossed into your car during your morning commute. If there's anything I handle worse than Kryptonite, it's the questions girls ask you in their moments of insecurity. Those questions almost inevitably make you look like an absolute tool no matter what you say. Every girl I know does this to me at some point or another without fail. This could get ugly. Really ugly. Like Jar-Jar Binks having his own primetime Star Wars sitcom ugly.

"Lana, where is all this coming from?" Stalling for time in order to get your bearings is always a good option.

"I'm not really sure," she explains in a hushed tone. "With Chloe behind bars needing our help, I guess it just finally hit me how much we rely on her… and how much I actually look up to her. Ever since halfway through senior year, I've noticed a really big change in Chloe, you know?"

I nod silently in agreement, urging her to continue.

"She grew into this more mature, graceful, and stronger version of the girl I used to live with. Gradually she became this person that…"

With Lana struggling for the right words, I can't help but fill in the blanks with an expression that I somehow know captures what we both think of Chloe in our minds.

"… you could trust and depend on no matter how bad things got?"

"Right," she affirms with a smile, "but at the same time she's still the same vibrant, energetic, and quirky Chloe we all know."

"I know exactly what you mean," I chuckle.

She laughs with me for a little bit before the thoughtful look returns to her face.

"Do you know how I really noticed the change in her?" she states.

"How?" I know I shouldn't keep encouraging her, but my own curiosity gets the best of me.

"The way you are around her," she answers, "it's like you don't have your guard up when she's around… it tells me that you trust her completely. And you don't trust easily, even to people you're close to. Which means you realized she's grown too."

Oh. Not exactly the observation I was expecting. Does Lana suspect that Chloe knows all about me? Before I can even get halfway through formulating a lame response, Lana mercifully changes the subject.

"I'm sorry I haven't been as good a friend to you this past year as I could have been. Chloe learned how to bury the hatchet much earlier than I did. She was there for you a whole lot more than I was... plus I'm sorry I didn't support you through Alicia's death."

"Lana, there's no way you could have known-"

"No Clark," she interjects with a determined look in her eyes, "I was being selfish and self-centered. Alicia was blameless the second time around. She didn't deserve my finger-pointing hysteria. It was partly my fault she died and I never apologized properly for that. Plus as a friend, I should have been there for you."

Although I don't say it out loud, I really appreciate Lana's attempt to take responsibility for her actions during that trying episode in our lives. Although she doesn't fully realize it, I can see that she's grown as a person as well.

"Hey, it's all in the past," I reassure her, "we each had our own reasons for what we did. Nobody's blameless."

"I know," she whispers, "but it doesn't change the fact that an innocent person died…"

I can see her mind drifting off somewhere. I don't know for sure, but my gut tells that she has a secret of her own weighing her down. Is that what I look like when I'm mired in my own web of lies? Then she turns to face me and she appears completely miserable. Her voice barely keeps from cracking as she speaks.

"If you knew everything I've done, there's no way you'd want to be with me. I'm not nearly as noble or heroic as you and Chloe."

"Lana, what are you talking about?"

"Clark, I've got secrets too. I'm just afraid that you won't ever see me the same way if I tell you."

"You know," I respond in an attempt to calm her fears, "I don't expect either of us to see each other the same way when the entire truth comes out. All we can do is accept each other for who we are and hope that the mistakes we've made have helped us become better people in the end."

I'm surprised to see that my words somehow put a light smile on her face.

"I knew there was a reason why I loved you so much..." she declares sincerely, "you have the most beautiful heart I've ever seen, Clark Kent."

Wow. What do you say to that? Before I know it, I'm feeling all tingly inside and I can feel my face stretching from my steadily growing smile. I've got to find a way to tell her how I feel. And what better way than to answer her original question from the heart?

"Do you know why I chose you Lana?"

"Why?" she says with a half-curious, half-worried look.

"You're not afraid to change into a better person. I know you're not perfect and I know like all of us you've made your share of mistakes. But ever since I've gotten to know you, you've always moved forward, trying to become a better person. Trying to become a better friend. I think that's what makes you beautiful."

She gives me a genuine smile this time.

"You know Clark, I don't think that everything you just said about me is objectively true, but the fact that you think it's true just proved my point about your heart. I really do love you."

"I love you too," I reply as I get off my chair and set myself beside her on the bed.

She pulls me in for a kiss and I feel the sweet caress of her lips. Pretty soon we get so lost in the passion of our kisses that I accidentally knock her laptop off the bed and it crashes to the carpeted floor. I am such a klutz. That thing costs nearly two grand. I start apologizing to her profusely.

"It's okay," she says almost laughing. She must find my genuflecting routine of forgiveness amusing or something. Oh well, anything to distract her from getting mad.

"Clark, really, it's okay," she reminds me again, but she can't hold back her giggles this time. "Laptops are replaceable. Beside's we don't even know if it's really broken."

"Oh yeah," I grunt like an idiot.

I quickly reach down to retrieve the computer and I'm totally relieved to see that it's still intact and working. But when I look at the screen I notice that it's changed from when the laptop was still on the bed. The search button must have been pressed when the laptop fell.

"It seems that my Google images search turned up something after all," observes Lana.

Staring right at us is an image taken from the Chloe's journalism convention. It shows a group of three volunteers all standing next to each other. The woman to the far right fits Chloe's description of Karina. Brown hair and green eyes with specs of gold. But that isn't the most interesting part. The caption under the photo tells us the woman's full name: Karina Mxyzptlk.

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End of Chapter 3!

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